Saturday, June 9, 2018

Page 1816

((Triple Saturday -- Page 3 of 3))He rushed onward to the northern end of Montero. It was quite a distance, but the rooftop route offered a clear path, at least, and he could boost himself along with extra surges of oxygen from his skinless feet. If he hadn’t had so much experience with this technique, he would’ve had much more trouble keeping his balance, let alone compensating for the uneven footing on the top of all these buildings.

‘How urgent is it?’ he asked Overra along the the way, wanting to know if he should push himself harder and sacrifice even more of his flesh to transfiguration.

‘I can’t tell,’ said Overra. ‘It’s just a man outside the city gates. I don’t recognize him, and his movements are a bit odd.’

At that information, Parson decided to heighten his pace somewhat. ‘Odd in what way?’

‘Hunching forward. Clutching his stomach. Taking unsteady steps. The guards aren’t sure what to make of him, either. They’re talking about going over to him, which I would highly advise against. Please get here before they do something stupid.’

‘Very well.’ At the edge of the next rooftop, Parson leapt off and then launched himself in mid-air with a pounding explosion of oxygen that replaced both of his legs from the knees down. There was enough force behind it to send him sail over the entire city, which was why he’d waited until after leaping off the building to invoke it. He knew from experience that a roof such as that one would have caved in completely and perhaps even collapsed the entire structure.

And for a time, he was flying. His long coat and empty pant legs flapped in the rushing wind while he reached the peak of his jump and slowly began arching back down again.

He might’ve been able to enjoy the far reaching view a bit more if not for the agony of his missing legs.

He was pleased, however, to see to that he had at least managed to estimate the distance correctly, more or less. He only needed to adjust his trajectory with a couple tiny jets of oxygen in order to make it the rest of the way to the northern gate.

Twenty-five years ago, he wouldn’t have been able to land safely from a jump of this height. But now he had the control and the power. He sacrificed the rest of his legs in order to create a kind of oxygen cushion for himself to land on and ease his descent and thereby prevent the rest of his body from splatting against the top of the gate.

Overra met him before he even touched down and began invoking the regeneration. While he waited for his legs to return, he held on to the edge of the battlements and looked out in the direction that Overra was pointing.

Indeed, he could see the man she had been talking about in the distance. A fumbling, zigzagging little ant.